Adele W. Miccio

Exposure to English Before and After Entry into Head Start: Bilingual Children's Receptive Language Growth in Spanish and English.

Abstract This investigation examined the Spanish and English receptive vocabulary and language comprehension abilities of bilingual preschoolers who attended Head Start over a two-year period. It was hypothesised that bilingual childrens development would follow linear trajectories and that the development of children who were only exposed to Spanish in the home prior to school entry would differ from children with exposure to Spanish and English from birth. Results revealed that the two groups’ language abilities in Spanish and English differed at the beginning of the study as measured by raw and standard scores and that these differences were maintained over the two years. The exceptions to this were found in the childrens vocabulary abilities, with the difference between the two groups’ English standard scores narrowing over time and the difference between their Spanish standard scores increasing during the two-year period. Similar to research on monolingual and bilingual children with low socioeconomic status (SES), childrens development in both languages essentially followed linear trajectories. Childrens raw scores on the English receptive vocabulary test accelerated, similar to research findings on monolingual children of middle SES. Also, childrens standard scores on the Spanish language comprehension measure decelerated after an initial period of linear growth. Future directions for research are discussed.

The Effect of Maternal Language on Bilingual Children's Vocabulary and Emergent Literacy Development during Head Start and Kindergarten.

This investigation examined the impact of maternal language and childrens gender on bilingual childrens vocabulary and emergent literacy development during 2 years in Head Start and kindergarten. Seventy-two mothers and their children who attended English immersion programs participated. Questionnaires administered annually over a 3-year period revealed that mothers increased their usage of English to their children. In addition, more mothers of sons reported using “More or All English” with their children than mothers of daughters. Growth curve modeling indicated that increased usage of English did not impact childrens English vocabulary or emergent literacy development. However, increased usage of English slowed the growth of childrens Spanish vocabulary. Despite differences in mother-to-child language usage, gender did not impact growth in either language. These findings provide evidence that maternal usage of Spanish does not negatively affect childrens developing English vocabulary or emergent literacy abilities. Maternal usage of Spanish appears necessary to maximize childrens developing Spanish vocabulary.

Stimulability: A useful clinical tool

Although difficult to define, stimulability is an easily measured skill that can provide valuable information for clinicians treating children with phonological disorders. In this article, we review changing trends in the definition of stimulability, standardized and nonstandardized approaches to its measurement, and clinical implications of stimulability for prognosis and treatment plan development as they have evolved over a 40-year period. Clinical application of stimulability information in caseload management and intervention is emphasized.

The Relationship Between Stimulability and Phonological Acquisition in Children With Normally Developing and Disordered Phonologies

The relationship between stimulability and phonological acquisition was investigated in eight children, four with phonological disorders who were aged 3;10 (years;months) to 5;7 and four with norma...

'What did you say'?: understanding conversational breakdowns in children with speech and language impairments

The study examined the types of mistakes children make during conversations with a familiar partner. The current investigation differs from previous studies because it asked what it is about the language of children with specific language impairment and phonological disorder (SLI:PD) that causes mothers to ask for clarification. Videotaped interactions were coded with the Breakdown Coding System to describe breakdowns. Not surprisingly, results indicated that children with SLI:PD were more difficult to understand than peers because of phonological errors and reduced intelligibility, supporting long-held beliefs about the functional impact of phonological impairments. Less predictable, however, was the finding that when children with SLI:PD were intelligible, mothers had more difficulty understanding them because of ambiguous utterances and underspecified pronouns, or because of semantically inappropriate or inaccurate information. Implications are discussed, and breakdown descriptions are presented as a useful supplement to current assessment methods and intervention planning.

Facilitating [s] production in young children: an experimental evaluation of motoric and conceptual treatment approaches.

Eighteen phonologically disordered children were assigned to one of two experimental treatment programmes. Half of the children received a motoric treatment, which focused on establishing sound production in isolation, words, and phrases. The remaining children received a conceptual treatment, which sought to establish the phonemic nature of /s/ without providing motor practice. Treatment efficacy was evaluated by analysing [s] production during administration of a generalization probe. The motoric treatment was more effective overall; although some subjects, whose phonetic inventory included [s] prior to treatment, generalized correct production following the introduction of the conceptual treatment.

A Coding System for Describing Conversational Breakdowns in Preschool Children

Analysis of children’s breakdowns offers a rich data source, potentially revealing patterns of weakness in children’s communication ability. The purpose of the present study was to present a fine-g...

Intervention to Improve Expressive Grammar for Adults with Down Syndrome.

Recent investigations have supported the ability of persons with Down syndrome to continue learning language on into adulthood. The importance of intervention to increase communicative competence is evident—what is not known is the effectiveness of such intervention. The authors report here on a series of case studies that investigated a language intervention that targeted syntax for adults with Down syndrome. The intervention used a hybrid approach combining naturalistic intervention contexts with structured elicitations of targets. Three adults with Down syndrome, ranging in age from 29 to 52 years, participated in 12 treatment sessions targeting grammatical morphemes. Results indicated that all three participants increased their use of target structures in obligatory contexts.

The Acquisition of Fricatives and Affricates: Evidence From a Disordered Phonological System

This study describes the acquisition of the entire fricative and affricate sound classes by a child with a disordered phonological system and other co-occurring conditions. Pretreatment, the partic...

Patterns of sound change in children with phonological disorders

This paper presents longitudinal data that provide insight into the phonological learning of five children. These children were superficially similar in that all presented with errors affecting production of [s]; however, it will be argued that each child possessed a phonological system that was unique in certain ways. Production of [s]was established with each participant using a motoric training approach, and generalization was assessed over a 3-4-month period using a 50-item probe. Once treatment was initiated, changes in the production of [s]and in other properties of the phonological systems were observed. Some of these changes illustrated apparent learning strategies that were child-specific, whereas other changes were common to all of these children and may, in fact, be universal in nature.